Please Keep Chasing Me
by foxxtastic
Summary: Arya and Gendry practically grew up with each other. They are and always have been best friends. And then high school came along and they both entered the dating world. They grew more and more distant. Gendry made a promise to himself a long time ago to never lose her from his life and is finding it's harder to keep that promise. (( Modern AU ))
1. Chapter 1

_Gendry_

Arya Stark was, and always would be, Arya Stark.

Her defiance was part of her very essence, and maybe that was what he found so endearing about her. Or maybe it was the way that her eyes lit up when she talked about something she was excited about or she was happy about something or was just smiling. Or the fact that she so fondly called him "stupid" at nearly every opportunity.

There was no denying the fact that he liked Arya Stark. Quite a bit, actually.

But there were certain things that Gendry had…well…not quite promised her, but wanted to make sure of. And the major of those things was not to lose her. That was the last thing he wanted. And he figured that if he made anything more complicated, it would end up in losing her for good.

So he kept his feelings to himself and tried his hardest not to make it obvious that he liked her. Even though it seemed that everyone else knew except for her. Not that he cared. As long as she didn't know, everything was fine.

Tapping his hands on the steering wheel, he waited for the girl to come down from her house so they could get to the school. "Arya, where the hell are you?" he muttered under his breath. He didn't know how many times she had told him to "Fuck off, Stupid," when he told her she was going to the damn game whether she liked it or not.

He was just beginning to unbuckle his seat belt to go get her himself to drag her to his car if he had to when the front door opened and she appeared. She glared at him before dragging her feet along with her down the steps and through the lawn to the passenger side of his silver Toyota Corolla.

"Remind me why I'm doing this, again?" she asked him when she got into the passenger side. He waited for her to buckle her seat belt before he turned his eyes on the road and drove off from her house.

"Because you love me and you know that the only way we're going to get to hang out this week is if we go to this game," he told her bluntly. He held back the sigh at the fact that this was the only day both of them were free. They had been friends for years and years, but lately things had gotten…complicated.

Arya had started dating some guy in the theatre troupe a few months ago and since then, their friendship had been failing. Not that Gendry wasn't guilty himself. He had also started dating a girl, mostly to keep his mind off of the fact that he couldn't date Arya and he needed to keep his jealousy under control whenever he saw him and her boyfriend together…

The thought of Arya's boyfriend sent a cold chill down his spine and he had to fight off a grimace

"Yeah…" Arya said wistfully, turning her head to look out the car window. His blue eyes flicked over to her briefly before returning to the road. She seemed like there was something troubling her, but he wasn't sure what it was.

"How are things with you and Jaqen, by the way?" he asked after a moment's silence. Gendry figured that if he didn't ask, something would seem off.

"Huh? Oh, it's good. Good…" she said, a distracted tone to her voice. She smiled at him and then shifted her attentions away from the window and on to him. "What about you and Jeyne?"

Again, Gendry had to bite back a huff of air, looking over his shoulder to check his blind spot to give him some time. "We're good. We went and saw that new movie last weekend. It was pretty good." Actually, things with Jeyne weren't nearly as good as he would have liked. The girl was nice, and good looking, but he was not nearly as into her as he should have been. He just could not get his head into the damn relationship, no matter how hard he tried.

"Ah, that's cool. Sounds like fun!"

They lapsed back into silence again as he drove her to the school. When did things get so damned awkward between them!? He sighed as he pulled into the parking lot, his fingers clenching the steering wheel as he thought about all that he had been trying to prevent when he urged Arya to start dating Jaqen to begin with.

Things had not gone the way that he had planned.

They got out of the car and walked side-by-side through the parking lot up to the school. Most of their conversation was simply small talk. As comfortable as Gendry felt around Arya, something just didn't feel right. He kept looking over at her and furrowing her brows, trying to figure out what was going on.

By the time they got some seats in the stadium to watch the football game, they had covered pretty much every small-talk topic they could. Thankfully, the football game became enough of a distraction that they were able to talk about it and actually have a conversation about it.

A few hours later, they were piling back into his car. The Dire Wolves had pummeled the Lions once again to the satisfaction of the entire school. "That was a really good game, huh?" he asked as he turned the key in the ignition, starting up as his best friend buckled in. She nodded, a grin on her face. "Hell yeah it was!" Finally, she had reverted to same old Arya. He watched her for a moment, biting on the inside of his cheek as an idea popped up in his head.

"Let's get ice cream," he told her, leaning back into his seat and pulling out of the parking spot carefully.

Arya looked at him warily. She looked she wasn't sure if he was being serious or not. It _had_ been forever since they'd actually spent any time together. And then she grinned and nodded her head eagerly. "Of course I want to get ice cream, Gendry!"

He smiled at the way that his name sounded coming out of her mouth. And with that thought, he began thinking of other things that made him feel awkward and unsure of himself all over again. Fuck.

He drove them to the closest ice cream shop and pulled up. He heard Arya's ringtone coming out of her pocket and watched in silence as she dug it out. She sighed, biting her bottom lip before smiling apologetically at Gendry. She answered and lifted her phone to her ear, answering the call.

"Hey, babe," she told him. Gendry sighed inwardly, giving Arya a smile before he climbed out of the car so she could talk to Jaqen in private. Damn it. He couldn't have any time alone with his best friend without someone ruining it for him, could he? Fuck it.

He leaned against his car as he waited for his best friend to finish, messing around with his own phone as he tried to distract himself and try his hardest not to listen in.

"Gendry," Arya finally called behind him. She looked upset and the expression on her face told Gendry that ice cream had not been one of his better ideas. "Can you please take me home? I'm really, really sorry…" she said, frowning at him. He sighed, rolling his eyes and nodding.

"Yeah, no problem. Everything okay?" he asked as they both climbed back into his car.

"Yeah, everything's fine. He's just worried about me and stuff…"

"Right."

Something in his tone must have told Arya that he didn't want to talk about her stupid, slightly controlling boyfriend. She sighed and muttered an apology before falling silent. He missed the wild, energetic girl that he had grown to love.

Again, the question of what the hell happened to make them like this popped into his head. Fuck.

After he had dropped her off, he drove back home and sat in the driveway for a few moments. His hands were still clenched on his steering wheel. Fuck fuck fuck. Why. Why did things have to be that way between them? Why did Jaqen have to steal his best friend from him? He sighed and groaned, grinding his teeth together.

He smacked his hands against the steering wheel before he finally climbed out, slamming his car door shut. Why did Jaqen have to ruin everything?

He sighed, running his hands through his hair and tugging at the ends of it before he stalked off into his house and upstairs into the attic without so much as a word to his single mother. She watched after him, concerned for her son, before deciding to leave him be.

Gendry threw himself on his bed, throwing a pillow over his face as he grumbled and complained about how much he hated not being able to hang out with Arya anymore.

_Arya_

Arya had been enjoying herself being able to spend time with Gendry again. For once. She had finally convinced Jaqen to let her hang out with her best friend from child hood and then he had decided to be impulsive for once and take her to go get ice cream after the game. She should have just ignored the damn call from her boyfriend so that she could spend more time with Gendry.

She liked spending time with Gendry. What was so wrong with that!? It wasn't like he had feelings for her or anything. She had resolved herself to just give up on him, since he had been the one to urge her to start dating Jaqen in the first place. Not that her boyfriend had given her much choice in the matter anyway. He had pursued her endlessly for days, begging and pleading with her. When she had finally brought it up with Gendry, he had said that she should do whatever she wants and if she wanted to start dating Jaqen then she should. And when she told him he wasn't sure, he had told her that it couldn't hurt.

Stupid, stupid Gendry…

There was definitely a reason why she called him Stupid all the damn time.

She kicked off her shoes by the door as soon as she got in, pulling off her jacket as she went along. Her brothers Bran and Rickon were sitting on the couch watch television while she could hear Sansa and her mother in the kitchen talking in hushed tones.

"Mom, I'm home," she called before padding up to the second story of their home, not waiting to get a response from her family. She peeked into her father's office to check if he was home yet on her way to her bedroom, only to be met with disappointment. Her father had been spending a lot of time at work lately and hadn't really been around for the past couple of weeks. Something huge going on that he couldn't miss or something like that… She didn't know and she didn't care…mostly…

Sighing, she shook her head and finished the trek to her bedroom, closing the door behind her and slipping out of her clothes as soon as she could. "Fucking clothes…" she muttered as she left them lying at her feet on the floor, not bothering with the empty laundry basket in the corner of her bedroom.

She tossed her phone over onto her bed as she padded over to her computer desk, sitting down and opening up her laptop. She logged on and began browsing the internet for something to occupy her frustrated mind.

Her phone buzzed and she ignored it, not wanting to deal with anyone right now. Her excitement over having kicked the crap out of the Lions at the game tonight had been shot when she wasn't allowed to go get ice cream with her best fucking friend.

Arya was feeling really, very frustrated with her stupid boyfriend.

An hour after she had gotten home, she was on Facebook when Gendry sent her a message.

_Check your phone, stupid._

She smirked and rolled her eyes, getting out of her chair after typing up a short "fine" in response to him. She grabbed her phone and checked the text message he had sent her.

_We need to do something this weekend. Seriously. Have any plans?_

She shook her head, sighing and sitting down on her bed.

_Not yet. We do need to hang out. I thought you and Jeyne were planning something?_

While she waited for a response, she got back up and grabbed her shorts and a loose t-shirt she had stolen from Jon when he had visited home last. Throwing them on, she smirked as her phone buzzed again.

_Not anymore. She canceled on me again. ]:_

Arya frowned, furrowing her brow. What was with Gendry and his girlfriend? Not that she really wanted to know since she didn't really care that much about if Jeyne and Gendry were doing good… Her phone buzzed again before she could even start to type up a response to that.

_Mom misses you and wants to see you again, lol._

A smirk fell on Arya's lips and she shook her head, sighing and typing up a response.

_Lol, well then I have to come by, don't I? Pick me up tomorrow at three?_

When she got a confirmation, she grinned and dropped her phone back onto her bed. If she was going to spend tomorrow afternoon with Gendry again, she should probably get some of her homework done. Arya groaned at the prospect and then decided to ignore her responsibilities. They could wait until Sunday.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note :: **Thank you so much to the people who have reviewed this for me and also subscribed. It's been a while since I've written anything, so getting feedback from you guys is really great.

I also had a reviewer point out to me that I did not mention ages or anything like that in the last chapter. I apologize for that and I promise that it will change with this chapter!

Again, thank you guys. And because I forget things often and didn't mention it in the last chapter, the title for this comes from the song "Southern Constellations" by Pierce the Veil.

Enjoy~

* * *

_Gendry_

For one reason or another, he was pacing back and forth in his room again. The prospect of finally actually getting some _real_ alone time with his best friend was making him nervous. He wasn't entirely sure why he was nervous. He just knew that there was a knot in his stomach that would not go away. Groaning, Gendry tugged at the ends of his blue-black hair.

Why did his best friend have to make him so damn nervous!? It wasn't fair! Especially considering that he was quite a bit older than her and close to graduating high school.

Arya was a sophomore and fifteen years old. Gendry, on the other hand, was eighteen. Not that it was a huge deal, three years wasn't much of a difference. Especially, apparently, to Arya. Her boyfriend, Jaqen was eighteen as well and in the same graduating class as Gendry.

_'Maybe it's a good thing she's into older guys… If she and Jaqen ever break up, I might have a chance_.' The realization of what he had just told himself in his mind hit him a few moments later and he froze, blinking. '_Wait…did I really just say that?'_ he asked himself, tilting his head. He groaned and smacked himself in the forehead. He really was as stupid as Arya always claimed him to be. Great.

He heard a brief knock at the door before he heard his mother's voice speaking to someone downstairs. "It is so good to see you, Arya! I'm so glad you could come! Gendry's up in his attic," his mother said before Arya said somewhat else in return.

_'Shit!'_ Gendry panicked, looking back and forth frantically to see if he had left anything he shouldn't have out.

"What are you doing, stupid?" Arya laughed as she came up the stairs. He huffed and spun around at her, his brow furrowed. She had her long brown hair down for once and tucked behind her ears. Her large grey eyes were framed by long pretty lashes, making them stand out even further against her face. She wore a simple grey hooded sweatshirt that was too large for her by far, the sleeves pushed up to her elbows, and a pair of faded blue jeans that flared out over her feet a little ways down from her knees.

"Nothing."

"Uh-huh. Sure…" she said, drawing out the sounds on her last word. She laughed at him and then walked over to give him a brief hug.

Gendry squeezed her and held her to his chest as much as he dare, holding her feminine figure close to him. Arya hid it, of course. She wasn't nearly so fond of being girly as her older sister. She didn't like showing off her figure and she seemed almost insecure about her new curves.

The only reason that Gendry had noticed the way that her hips had flared out from her slim waist and that waist had led up to her petite, budding breasts was because of the fact that he was often graced with hugs whenever he did get to hang out with her.

She stepped away from him and looked up at him expectantly. "So what are we doing today?" she asked, unaware that he was thinking about the way that her curves would feel when he ran his finger tips along them…

Mentally, Gendry had to smack himself. He had a girlfriend, Arya had a boyfriend, and they were supposed to be just friends.

"I don't know," he said, smirking, "whatever you want, I guess."

Arya rolled her eyes and punched him lightly on the bicep. "Way to go, Stupid."

"Are you hungry or anything?" Arya shrugged at his question and Gendry sighed. Why could she just not make this easy on him? "A movie, then?"

Again, the girl shrugged, but she made a facial expression that showed she thought watching a movie was a good idea. "Cool. You have to decide the movie, though."

His best friend looked at him, incredulous. She stuck out her bottom lip and placed closed fists on her hips, staring him down. Gendry smirked, crossing his arms over his chest and lifting one of his eyebrows at her. They remained in their stand-off for a few more moments before Arya got this evil smirk on her face and shrugged. "Fine."

* * *

_Arya_

She wasn't entirely sure why she had chosen this movie. Maybe it was because she thought that, for whatever reason, his mother wouldn't have it in her house. She shouldn't have hoped, because here she was sitting next to Gendry trying to hold in her laughter for the absurd cheesiness that was Tangled.

"I can't believe you actually have this movie," she had said when Gendry pulled it from the cabinet in the entertainment center. He had looked back at her nervously, chuckling.

"Mom's a big fan of Disney movies," he had offered, shrugging. She wasn't sure he would actually take her serious when she told him she wanted to watch Tangled with him. Seven hells, what had she been thinking? She was an idiot.

But she did have to admit that it was nice to just be able to sit on the couch next to Gendry without having to deal with anyone distracting her by playing with her hair or trying to kiss her and keep her from watching the damn movie. She missed the simplicity that was hanging out with her best friend. She also missed just being able to be comfortable in silence.

When she was with Jaqen, she always felt like she was doing something wrong if she was silent for too long. She didn't have to worry about not being comfortable. She could just be herself with Gendry. She could be Arya. Stubborn, bull-headed Arya.

She settled down into her sweater, sighing contentedly. Her eyes kept flickering over to Gendry, who had a bemused smile on his face and in his stormy blue eyes. Gendry was a rather large young man for his age. Not nearly so large as her sister's boyfriend, but he was still one of the tallest (and broadest) in his class. He was about six feet tall and however much he weighed was all lean muscle. Not that Arya was making any note of how much of that muscle he had or anything…

He was wearing a pair of faded grey jeans that had probably once been black at some point. A dark blue t-shirt stretched across his chest. His raven hair was mussed as it always was, a testament to the fact that he didn't comb through his hair often, if at all. The last few times Arya had seen him, his hair had been especially messy, like he had been pulling it or something. She smirked at the thought of Gendry getting disgruntled.

"What's so funny?" he asked her, turning his head towards her.

"Besides the ridiculous song and dance numbers in this movie? Nothing," she said slyly. Gendry laughed, throwing his head back with the force of it. It made her smile, too.

"Oh please, Arya. You know you're enjoying it," he teased. She stuck her tongue out at him and threw another light punch against his arm. "Punch me, will ya?" he said, reaching to shove her.

Arya yelped lightly as she fell over onto the couch, rolling off onto the floor. "Good going, stupid," she laughed.

Pushing herself onto her knees, she leapt at her best friend, pouncing on him. He let out a yelp of surprise as well and they both went down from the couch onto the floor. Arya was on top, her hands pressing flat against his chest. A moment later, she was trapped below Gendry, his strong arms on either side of her head.

And then they froze. Like they had just realized what the hell they were doing. Wrestling and rolling around on the floor was nothing new for them, but…something was different this time. Arya wasn't sure what it was, but it made her blink a few times. Gendry was giving her a strange look and there was a tension between them that hadn't been there a few moments before.

The tension between them made her nervous and she scrambled away from him as best she could, retreating to the opposite side of the couch. Gendry sat up, running his hands through his hair, pushing it back from his face. He had a grin on his face when he turned toward Arya. She couldn't help but to smile as well, despite feel awkward at the weird tension that had come up out of nowhere.

She couldn't get the face that her best friend had made when he had pinned her down. She couldn't put a description on what it could have possibly meant and she wasn't entirely sure she even _wanted _to know, for that matter.

"Stupid," she told him, sticking her tongue out at him again. He just laughed at her again. Why in seven hells was he being so damned infuriating today!?


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note ;; **A bit of a longer chapter for you guys this time (kinda)! I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and I do apologize for the lack of updating... I can only offer the excuse that I suck at life. x3

Thank you to everyone who has left feedback on this. It means a lot to me and I enjoy reading that you guys are enjoying reading this!

* * *

_Arya_

"My parents invited you over to dinner tomorrow night, if you're interested," she told Jaqen, pushing around the chili cheese fries on her plate before her. The corners of her boyfriend's lips turned upwards in a small smile, cocking his head in thought at her.

"That sounds lovely. I will be there. What time?"

"Seven thirty." Arya smiled back at him, trying to picture her father's face when he met her boyfriend.

Jaqen was quite tall for his eighteen years, standing at five feet and eleven inches. Though, then again, everyone was tall to petite little Arya. However, where Gendry was broad and muscled, Jaqen was lithe and willowy. His hair, which fell loosely down to his shoulders, was a deep red with a large white chunk in the front. He claimed it was natural and had been there since he was born. Arya had never seen anyone's hair grow naturally white when they were that young, especially not in just a single spot on their head.

At least Jaqen was nowhere near as daunting as her older sister's boyfriend. Sandor Clegane was six feet, five inches of solid muscle. He probably would have been handsome were it not for the fact that have of his face was scarred from mysterious burns received long ago. Arya had wondered again and again what the hell Sansa had seen in Sandor, especially with his reputation. Not only that, but Sansa's ex-boyfriend was Joffrey Baratheon, the son of the most powerful man in the country. Compared to Joffrey, though, Sandor seemed like a fucking angel…

At least Sansa wasn't dating that prick anymore…

"Sweet girl?" Jaqen's voice startled her out of her reverie. She blinked, turning her attentions away from her food and towards her boyfriend.

"Sorry. What?" He chuckled, shaking his head and reaching out to squeeze her hand. Arya tried not to think about the fact that his touch no longer sent electric shocks through her like they had when she had first met him.

"A man asked what a girl was smiling about. I apologize for pulling you from your thoughts," he laughed.

Arya rolled her eyes. "I was just trying to picture my dad's face when he met you. He's not so great with the fact that Sansa and I have grown up and are dating."

"Ahh…well I shall try to make our meeting as painless as possible for your father."

Arya smirked and shrugged. "It's okay, really. You don't have to worry about it. He'll be fine, he's just a big baby. Like Jon." She smiled at the thought of her older brother.

Jaqen nodded and smiled back at her quietly. "Just so," was all he had to say.

She decided she wasn't hungry after all and stood from the bench to go toss her food into the trash. She glimpsed Gendry sitting at his usual table (which had also once been her usual table before she had started dating Jaqen) with Lommy, Hot Pie, and his girlfriend. A flame sparked somewhere in her chest and she was hit with an unexpected flash of anger towards the girl.

'_That's stupid, though. I don't even know the bitch. And I hate her.'_ Then again, such a thing wasn't a big deal for Arya. She disliked pretty much everyone she went to school with, save for Gendry and the others.

When she returned to her table, she was met with a kiss from Jaqen before he suggested he walk her to class.

The rest of her day swam by in a haze. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night because she couldn't stop thinking about absolutely stupid things. Like the way that Gendry had looked at her when he'd pinned her down last weekend. Stupid Gendry had been on her mind a _lot_ in the last few days. Which frustrated her to no end. Arya hated not being able to focus on things.

When the bell finally rang for dismissal, it was like the gods had finally answered all of her prayers. One more day down, another to go before the weekend arrived once again. She was halfway to Sansa's car in the parking lot when Jaqen appeared out of nowhere beside her.

"Sweet girl," he greeted her. Panicked, Arya jumped two feet into the air. She clutched her chest, glaring at her boyfriend as he chuckled.

"Ass," she growled. He just laughed some more.

"Are we still on for the movie tonight?" he asked her, a lazy smile on his lips. Arya nodded, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. She hated that he had the ability to sneak up on her like that.

"Yeah, definitely. What time is it again?"

"Six thirty. I will pick you up around six?"

"Sounds good. I'll see you then."

"Until then," he said, smiling and bowing his head at her before he gave her another kiss.

She watched him go quietly, wondering what it was about him that had attracted her in the first place. She wasn't sure anymore and that bothered her more than it should have. On that same hand, the fact that she was questioning why she was dating him bothered her a lot less than it should have. Sighing, the girl shook her head and continued on her way to her sister's car.

However, when she got there, she came upon a scene that made her want to puke what little food she had eaten at lunch.

Sansa was seated on the trunk of her white Mazda with her arms and legs wrapped around her boyfriend as they sucked face. Arya grimaced as she walked up to them, screwing up her face.

"That's fucking disgusting, Sansa," she offered loudly. Arya pulled open the back passenger door and threw her backpack inside the car, frowning in disgust at her sister and her large boyfriend.

Sandor looked up at her, finally detaching himself from her sister's face long enough to snarl and growl at Arya for ruining his make out session. The girl just rolled her eyes at him and crawled into the front passenger seat. "C'mon, Sansa. Get in. I want to get home so I can get ready for my date tonight."

A few moments later, a frowning Sansa crawled in beside her.

"You know, I don't call you out whenever you're kissing Jaqen around me, Arya," she said scornfully. Arya rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Oh please. That's because Jaqen and I _kiss_. We don't suck face and play tonsil hockey like there's no tomorrow." She was pleased with the color that her sister's face turned as she blushed. The older girl turned to her and narrowed her eyes, pursing her lips to show her dissatisfaction with her younger sister.

Arya merely shrugged and pulled her seatbelt over her shoulder. "Let's just go, yeah?"

Sansa pulled out of the parking spot and drove carefully through the parking lot before getting onto the main road and heading to the outskirts of town where their large home was located.

"So is he coming to dinner tomorrow?" Arya asked nonchalantly, picking at her already chipped nail polish. Her sister glanced her way briefly before turning her attentions back to the road with a sigh.

"I haven't asked him. I don't think I will… You know how Father gets. And I'm sure he nor Mother will approve of him."

Arya rolled her eyes. "Sansa, they approved of _Joffrey_, for the seven's sake. What makes you think they'll disapprove of Sandor?" She looked up from her nails and over to her sister. "If I have to drag Jaqen into our house, then you have to drag your dog into it as well. I am not going to be the only one bringing a boy home tomorrow."

"We'll see," Sansa said bitterly. Her tone indicated that was the end to that conversation and any others concerning boyfriends and dinners and families.

* * *

_Gendry_

"Gendry? Is everything okay?" Jeyne asked. She reached up to brush away a lock of his black hair from his face in what should have been a tender gesture, but what Gendry only felt was an annoying one. It shouldn't have been annoying to have his girlfriend treat him like that, but it was. And it frustrated him that he knew exactly why it was that Jeyned frustrated and annoyed him. It was all because he didn't like her as much as he tried to let on.

He sighed and pulled away from her touch, shaking his head. "Yeah, everything's fine," he lied smoothly. He offered her a smile, but her eyes were showing her doubt in that statement. '_Nothing's fine. I can't stop thinking about how I shouldn't fucking be with you. And you are going to completely hate me._'

"You're distracted by something going on in that pretty little head of yours," Jeyne said, still smiling. Gendry smirked and shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know." He shrugged. "Don't worry about it, okay? Doesn't matter." He smiled at her to try to reassure her, but she still looked at him skeptically.

"If you say so, hun," she said, leaning her head onto his shoulder. That annoyed him as well, for some reason.

He didn't know how much longer he could do this…

That night, Gendry lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Try as he might, he could not sleep for anything.

He rolled onto his side, grumbling to himself about how his brain was as stupid as Arya always claimed it was. His eyes flashed over to the clock. **2:30 AM** it read. He groaned again as he rolled onto his stomach, burrowing his face into his pillow.

One of his hands brushed his phone and he got this crazy idea in his head to send a text message to his best friend. Granted, he was certain that she would be sleeping. If his text woke her, she would likely hate him forever and castrate him at school on Monday. But…well…fuck it. It wasn't like he had anything else better to do and it didn't seem like he was going to be getting to sleep any time soon, so why not?

_Hey, still awake?_ Gendry hit the send button without further hesitation and then flipped onto his back to prepare to try to count sheep or something stupid like that to try to calm his brain down.

He nearly jumped out of his bed and skin when his phone buzzed a few moments later. "The fuck?" he asked himself, grabbing his phone.

_How did you know? _She had sent back. He nearly laughed at her response.

_I didn't. I can't sleep either._

_That's stupid. Why did you text me, then?_

In his mind, Arya was rolling her eyes at him and giving him that look that screamed 'You're so stupid.'

_Because I couldn't think of anything else to do. Sorry. I'll leave you alone now…_

He sighed, running his hands over his face. Why did talking to Arya, even just over the stupid phone through text messages, make him so damned nervous?

_That would be stupid, too. _

It was Gendry's turn to roll his eyes with that one. Though he wondered at her response… What was that supposed to mean? Did it even mean anything? Was he really being that stupid as to read into it more than he should be?

Dammit.

_If you say so. Why can't you sleep?_

_Brain won't shut the fuck up. You?_

_Same._

The next thing Gendry was aware of, there were smells of fresh-baked biscuits and bacon wafting up from the house below him. His stomach grumbled as he lifted his head to look at the clock. _'Ten? When the hell did I fall asleep last night?'_

He sighed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he sat up. It was going to be a long day.


End file.
